Users of Clove Lakes Park call for a crosswalk

Staten Island Advance/Virginia SherryAccording to joggers and walkers in Clove Lakes Park, drivers do not heed the 15 mph signs posted on the bordering Martling Avenue in West Brighton.

WEST BRIGHTON STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Joggers and walkers in Clove Lakes Park believe that an accident is waiting to happen on Martling Avenue, where the park’s pedestrian path connects scenic Martling’s Pond with Brooks Pond, across the busy street.

In fact, they’re so certain that several hundred of them, from the North Shore and Staten Island neighborhoods beyond, signed their names to petitions last month. The petitions were submitted to Thomas Cocola, the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) Borough Commissioner, as a 15-page attachment to an Aug. 9 letter.

“When you walk or jog in Clove Lakes Park (and there are many of us), and try to go from one side to the other, you have to cross Martling Avenue and that is dangerous,” the letter read.

“15 mph speed-limit signs are there, but very few, if any, cars pay attention to that posted speed limit. Something should and can be done before someone gets hurt!”

The letter called for a crosswalk — with a “Yield to Pedestrians” sign — at the spot on Martling Avenue where the police call-box is located.

‘DANGEROUS SITUATION

The street crossing between the two ponds “is a dangerous situation,” said Charles Kitts, a native Islander and retired city school-teacher who spearheaded the petition drive.

Kitts, who takes daily walks in Clove Lakes Park, is intimately familiar with the crossing situation that joggers and walkers face on Marling Avenue. He collected the signatures for the petition over a few days, at different times, he told the Advance.

“It surprised me how easy it was to get signatures — no one objected. Some people said that it was a great idea, and about time, but others had no expectations,” he said. “Do you really expect that the city will do anything about this?” was the cynical comment of one person who signed, he said.

“Yeah, we’ll get this, and I’ll win the lottery,” another signatory told Kitts.

The request for a marked crosswalk at the Martling Avenue park-crossing is reasonable, Kitts argues. “I have seen such crosswalks work out very well in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Jersey. Martling Avenue goes through a park, and people in the park should feel safe about having to cross this street. Right now they do not.”

DOT REPLY

Kitts received a letter from Cocola, dated Sept. 7.

The commissioner rejected the idea of a crosswalk, writing that an “on-site survey” indicated that the proposed location would be “extremely dangerous,” due to Martling Avenue’s sharp curve that necessitates the posted 15 mph signs.

Cocola also wrote in his letter that pedestrians can cross safely at the “signalized crosswalk nearby at the intersection of Martling Avenue and Slosson Avenue,” a location that is uphill and a significant distance away from the park path that connects the two ponds, Kitts pointed out.

‘FIND A SOLUTION’

“Something can and should be done,” Kitts said in a phone interview earlier this week. “No cars drive 15 mph around that curve, and it’s upsetting that DOT ignores that fact.”

Walkers and joggers “will continue to cross Martling Avenue at this spot, no matter what. How can we make it safer for them?” he wondered.

Kitts suggested, as a possible alternative, the installation of a speed bump to “slow down the traffic.”

“But I was hoping that the commissioner would come up with an alternative,” he said. “It’s his job, not ours, to find a solution.”